Two suicide car bombers detonated themselves on the outskirts of the holy Shiite shrine city of Karbala on Thursday killing at least 50 people, a top official said. At least 175 people were hurt in the twin attacks. The head of Karbala provincial council Mohammed Hamid al-Mussawi said the attacks reported some 20 minutes apart at the northern and the southern entrances to the city, 110 kilometres south of Baghdad.

These attacks come after two days of huge attacks in Iraq which saw the killing and the injuring of hundreds of people.